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Britt Linn article by the New Jersey Herald

By GREG WATRY

gwatry@njherald.com

WANTAGE — Growing up in the sticks of Sussex County, Britt Linn spent her childhood like any country girl. But the self-described “tomboy” is a far cry away from the country lifestyle. Now a full-time model in New York City, she recently graced the centerfold pages of Playboy as Miss March 2014.

“Growing up in Sussex County was the ideal place,” the 23-year-old former Wantage resident said.

Linn, who uses “Britt Linn” as her modeling name, spent most of her time as an adolescent outside. On the menu of daily activities was hunting, fishing and kayaking. After school, she’d meet up with the neighborhood kids and wander the woods, scaling trees and building treehouses.

“I grew up in a house listening to bluegrass and country,” she said, a taste she still harbors in addition to folk and soul music.

A 2009 graduate of High Point Regional High School, she participated in track and cross country, but was an aesthete as well, dabbling in photography and painting. But sculpture was her favorite medium.

Right before she was to graduate from High Point in 2008, she moved to Florida, where the beaches were inviting and the weather was warm.

However, she became homesick. “I missed home and the small-town vibe,” she said. Plucked out of high school during her senior year, she returned a year later to High Point and graduated in 2009.

With prior experience at a medical group home, she attended Dover Business College, where she studied physical technology. The program was accelerated, and Linn took anywhere between 18 and 21 credits per semester. “I was definitely on the grind during college.”

Afterwards she worked as a surgical technologist, assisting surgeons by taking care of specimens and prepping syringes, among other duties.

But she wouldn’t be assisting in surgeries for long. Eventually, a New York model scout approached her on Facebook. “I wasn’t so sure about it,” said Linn, ever wary of a potential scam. But after doing research on Models.com, she discovered the agency was reputable.

“It’s really interesting how people find girls,” she said. With the advent of social media, agencies can now scour the web for just the right look.

Linn made the trip into New York City. The agent “told me I couldn’t leave until I signed,” she said, laughing. He warned that if “you don’t bring (the contract) back, I’m going to hunt you down.”

Linn signed the contract in September 2013, and since then life’s been a whirlwind.

Linn started her career at the height of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City. Racing to catch up on the curve, she would go home and practice her runway walk. Her efforts proved successful, and she walked five shows.

Following gigs included shoots with “Seventeen” magazine and the design company Diesel.

Like the rocket-propelled start to her modeling career, Linn snagged the Playboy shoot via social media. “Social media has really been my savior,” she said.

A Playboy photographer, Josh Ryan, posted a status on Facebook with the words “bunny hunting.”

A poster responded that she was pretty, but not Playboy material. Ryan thought otherwise. Linn became the first shorthaired Playmate in more than 15 years.

She was flown out to Los Angeles for a test shoot and stayed at the Playboy Mansion. According to Linn, Hugh Hefner called her “Joisey,” a reference to the stereotypical thick accent everyone outside New Jersey believes residents possess.

The mansion was beautiful, Linn said, “not just the mansion, but the grounds” too, complete with a petting zoo on the premises. Linn had the opportunity to play with spider monkeys during her stay. “It was the coolest thing ever.”

The setting for Linn’s Playboy shoot was the Four Aces Motel, a movie set location about an hour northeast of Los Angeles near Joshua Tree National Park.

For her first nude shoot, Linn said “Josh and I had a chance to talk before the shoot.” Linn had input on her clothing and informed Ryan what she was comfortable and not comfortable with.

A typical centerfold Playmate makes $25,000 for a magazine shoot, said Theresa Hennessy, vice president of public relations at Playboy.

The job also comes with additional work opportunities, with the possibility of Linn appearing as a Playmate at future events.

A whiskey-swirling woman, Linn said that while she lives in New York City, her typical Saturday night consists of ordering in and watching movies with her husband, Paul Olczyk, and her puppy, Yoda.

Linn and Olczyk are newlyweds, having married in November.

“It would be cool if I said I go clubbing,” she said, “but that would be a lie.”

Olczyk’s been nothing but supportive of her career, Linn said. “He was really excited” about the Playboy shoot. “I think he was a little surprised when he saw the layout,” she added, noting that things always appear differently in one’s head than in reality.

“(My mother) told me since I was little, people always said I should model,” Linn said. “I was very timid and scared … I don’t think I ever imagined it would really happen.”

But when the wave broke, Linn hopped on for the ride. “It’s a very short window for modeling … I wanted to pursue a dream that I think many girls have.”

Linn’s mother now lives in Warwick, N.Y., and her father is still a resident of Wantage. With life in the city, she said, you have to give up your car for the more convenient mass transit.

Her last visit to Sussex County was in November, and while she makes it out here sparingly she said, “I wish I did more.”